Cablevision's Optimum Lightpath Manages Uncompressed HD

Optimum Lightpath, the business-services division of Cablevision Systems, has upgraded its Managed Video offering to support 1.485 Gigabit per second linear uncompressed HD-SDI video over a dedicated fiber-optic wavelength.

The MSO unit said the functionality is now available across its New York metro area footprint, which spans more than 4,700 route miles of fiber. The upgrade is aimed primarily at media production facilities, broadcasters, TV stations, video-relay bureaus and content distributors that want to transport high-quality video of live events to various local destinations.

Optimum Lightpath's Managed Video service can accept, transport and deliver native compressed and uncompressed digital video in common industry formats, including ASI, SDI and HD-SDI. The company manages encoding and decoding, as well as installation, operation and maintenance of all related equipment. According to the MSO, its video transport services provide benefits including more efficient delivery and minimized jitter versus competing technologies such as satellite or video delivered over public networks.

"As one of the largest media hubs in the world, the New York metro area is home to an abundance of media companies that need to quickly move video around the region," Optimum Lightpath senior vice president of marketing and business development Julia McGrath said in a statement. "With this latest update to our Managed Video, we can now support the delivery of uncompressed HD video content with the same speed and reliability that Optimum Lightpath's media and entertainment customers have come to expect from our proven video transport services."

Optimum Lightpath's video services are sold based on flat-rate pricing. Its Video Transport service is based on bandwidth needed, and Managed Video pricing is based on video protocol and compression needed.